Monday, March 20, 2006

Film On Ramanujan And Hardy; Stan Laurel Not Happy

I do not know much about either Ramanujan or Hardy. What little I know is through textbooks. Ramanujan's arc is the "against all odds" story; from obscurity to the stuff of legend. Born in a poor family, obsessed with mathematics, college dropout, works as a low-level clerk, pursues his obsession with numbers, begins correspondence with G.H. Hardy, third time's the charm, travels to WWI London, health fails, returns home, fin. The other half of the equation is Hardy's character: absent-minded professor, cricket-loving genius who took an unknown mathematician from India under his wings.

Generally speaking, I am not crazy about biopics but the film-makers' pedigree is assuring. An early proof that the film's casting is in safe hands:

"It won't be [Bollywood stars like] Amir Khan or Shah Rukh Khan surely. I am sure we will find the right actor"

On the other hand, I would pay top dollars to see Shah Rukh Khan talking to Prof. Hardy with a pukka Tamil accent: it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."